The Arizona Diamondbacks will try to top the success of last year’s 18-inch bacon-and-cheese-stuffed corn dog by offering a dessert. Team president and CEO Derrick Hall told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the team’s star concession item this year will be a Churro Dog.

The Churro Dog is a warm cinnamon churro sitting inside a Long John chocolate-glazed donut, which is then topped with frozen yogurt, caramel and chocolate sauces. Its estimated calorie count is 1,117.

Crane Kenney’s statement indicates that they had considered playing an entire season—perhaps 2015?—at Miller Park, which would have given them from September 2014 to April 2016 to do significant work at Wrigley Field.

Logistically, this would have created significant issues for Cubs season-ticket holders who live, say, anywhere south of the Lake/Cook county line in Illinois. Even that line is about 70 miles from Miller Park; those season-ticket holders who ...

When I took this job at MLB, I knew it was going to take time for many to embrace my message of inclusion. Expecting everyone to be supportive right away is simply not realistic. If you asked anyone who has competed in high-level men’s professional sports, I believe they would agree with me. This doesn’t change the way I go about my business, or my belief in what I am doing, but it’s reality.

After hitting a career-low .263 last season, which started bad after a difficult camp, Andrus said he reported to Arizona this spring in the best shape of his career.

“I really believe that,” Andrus said. “This year I took it a thousand times (more) seriously than I did the year before. It’s part of the growing part, knowing yourself, knowing your body a little bit more every year. I had a really good plan. Our bodies are our business. You have to take care of that year in and year ...

But when Matt Garza wanted to give his fellow Milwaukee Brewers starting pitchers a spring-training gift, he hit exactly the right note. He gave them all these oh-so-comfortable looking personalized robes. It’s one of those things you’d absolutely use but might never think to buy for yourself — the sign of a wonderful present.

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Cuddyer says he has never had a gay teammate that he has known of. Daniel Murphy says he has not either.

He too is ready for a gay teammate, he says. The Mets consulted players this winter before bringing Bean in and Murphy called the idea “forward thinking.” More than just listening to a seminor or speech, it was an opportunity to get to known an individual. He regretted that he had not had the chance to meet Bean yet.

Huh. Maybe they will be able to market his home run milestones after all.

Think it’s a coincidence A-Rod’s Grapefruit League return comes on a home game? It’s a sound business decision for the Yankees, who surely will sell more tickets and draw more eyeballs to YES than if they fielded a lineup without their most interesting player. Or if this didn’t mark his first game back after missing all of last season due to a suspension for illegal performance-enhancing drug usage and obstruction.

Jeff McKnight, a versatile player who spent six seasons with the New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles, has died. He was 52.

McKnight’s family told the Mets that McKnight died Sunday after battling leukemia for 10 years. His father, Jim, who played for the Chicago Cubs briefly in the early 1960s, was born in Bee Branch, Arkansas.

Jeff McKnight made his big league debut with the Mets in 1989 and hit .233 with five home runs and 34 RBIs in 218 games. He singled in his final at-bat for the Mets in ...

UT, ranked No. 1 in Div. II, tied it at 2 when Phillies reliever Nefi Ogando walked in a run with the bases loaded. That prompted a mid-inning pitching change to Hector Neris, who promptly gave up a grand slam to UT shortstop Giovanny Alfonzo.

The Phillies loaded the bases in the ninth, but Cord Phelps grounded out to the pitcher to end it.

Richard J. Albero, a former naval officer and retired teacher, will begin his journey up the east coast on Monday, March 2, at 10:00 a.m. and he’ll be doing so primarily to honor his nephew, Gary Albero, who died in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York.

In conjunction with that effort, Albero also intends to raise $25,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project as a nod to Gary, who he describes as a charitable man who always put in the effort to raise awareness and funds for causes that were close to ...

The policy, Scherzer said, would have provided him with $40 million tax-free if he suffered any type of injury that prevented him from receiving an offer below the Tigers’ original $144 million proposal. Scherzer was covered if he injured his shoulder. He was covered if he required Tommy John surgery on his elbow. He was covered for every possible injury under a policy that he said cost him $750,000.

“Don’t get me wrong. I know finance. I know deferral money. I get all that. But this was the ...